Asbestos Pipe Removal - How It Is Done
Asbestos is toxic and therefore, quite injurious to health. It is really important to remove materials containing asbestos fibers. This is because they can be hazardous to your health and surroundings. It can also lead you to various kinds of cancer such as lung cancer. Some pipes which are connected to the steam heat or radiators are believed to have asbestos. Asbestos pipes wrap are covered with canvas which has a white surface crumble in nature. In case of pipe wraps having small holes, it is always advisable to repair it instead of removing it. You can do this by caulk holes, then wrapping with rewettable piece of glass cloth. Avoid using the duct tape as it may fall apart with the passage of time.
Many process and steam piping is cladded and insulates materials having asbestos. These should be removed prior to the dismantling and decontamination activity. It has been found that the manual for asbestos pipe removal and other materials is usually an expensive and time consuming process. The current procedures basically need developed infrastructure. This is usually in terms of affected areas and monitoring of air thus leading in low removal efficiency. In order to overcome this problem, a unique mechanical system was conceptualized. This is called BOA system. This system works on pipes of different sizes by allowing whole removal of insulation and lagging while encapsulating the pipe. There are various features in this system. Some of these features are as follows: 1. Increment in removal efficiency of the materials. 2. Need of abatement personnel is reduced to a great extent. 3. Packaging and removal for easy disposal or processing 4. Fully sealed and contained operations. The whole configuration of this system has an external pipe which is supported by a mobile vehicle for sealing and bagging the asbestos removed and thus, providing for placing the crawler operations. With better cooperation between the pipe crawler and the mobile boom vehicle, it permits the machine to perform on pipes from 8 to 60 feet above the level of ground. Removal of the insulation is achieved by using a similar treatment to the installation process. Then, the asbestos is eradicated from the pipe by the crawlers strong action which thus pushes into and beneath the insulation to force it against a tapered lead out section beneath the crawler. One of the other advantages of this system is that it is capable of traveling on pipes of diameters from 4 to 6 inch. It can also handle in line obstacles like pipe hangers; tackle various pipe materials like carbon steel, cooper and stainless steel, and deal with varying types of insulation cladding like plastic tapes, plastic boots and many more. Thus, asbestos pipe removal can be done safely and effectively by employing this mechanical method as other manuals normally consume lots of time and money. |